How to create dictionary from bytes (Python)

Question

I am trying to create a list from an API call, the data comes out like this which I believe is bytes.

Nothing sensitive below here:

[{"Udid":"00000004324234235","SerialNumber":"SN42A32A34","MacAddress":"00127F287220","Imei":"","EasId":"443243434225346FE9","AssetNumber":"","DeviceFriendlyName":"00:16:7F:18:7C:B0 ","LocationGroupId":{"Id":{"Value":544},"Uuid":"364243f-97342b-4287-9333-b942442313","Name":"Location2"},"LocationGroupName":"Location2","UserId":{"Id":{"Value":5111},"Uuid":"364243f-97342b-4287-9333-b942442313","Name":"MDM Enroll"},"UserName":"Enroll123","UserEmailAddress":"[email protected]","Ownership":"C","PlatformId":{"Id":{"Value":10},"Name":"PalmPhone"},"Platform":"PalmPhone","ModelId":{"Id":{"Value":44},"Name":"PalmPhone - X101Nitro"},"Model":"PalmPhone - X101Nitro","OperatingSystem":"1.7.44444","PhoneNumber":"","LastSeen":"2018-11-11T07:46:57.257","EnrollmentStatus":"Enrolled","ComplianceStatus":"Compliant","CompromisedStatus":false,"LastEnrolledOn":"2018-11-09T18:26:03.610","LastComplianceCheckOn":"0001-01-01T00:00:00.000","LastCompromisedCheckOn":"2018-06-13T19:28:22.933","IsSupervised":false,"DeviceMCC":{"SIMMCC":"","CurrentMCC":""},"VirtualMemory":0,"IsDeviceDNDEnabled":false,"IsDeviceLocatorEnabled":false,"IsCloudBackupEnabled":false,"IsActivationLockEnabled":false,"IsNetworkTethered":false,"IsRoaming":false,"SystemIntegrityProtectionEnabled":false,"ProcessorArchitecture":0,"Id":{"Value":140},"Uuid":"364243f97342b42879333-b942442313"},

Then it repeats with the same format just different data. I tried doing something along the lines of (ast.literal_eval(b"myList")) (myList being the variable that holds all of the above).

Any ideas?

w3schools.com/python/python_json.asp the text you just described was JSON. API calls usually give you back JSON. You first need to de serialize that then i believe it turns into a list that you can manipulate from there. — Franco Pettigrosso
– Franco Pettigrosso, Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 15:50

Hal Jarrett · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-20 16:05:49Z

2

If the returned string is valid json, you can process it like so:

import json
x = json.loads(myList)

x will then contain the list of dictionaries that the API call returned.

ast.literal_eval(myList) should also work - if myList is actually of type bytes like you indicated, try ast.literal_eval(myList.decode('UTF-8'))

edited Nov 20, 2018 at 16:05

answered Nov 20, 2018 at 15:54

Hal Jarrett

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Luan Naufal · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-20 16:14:00Z

2

The problem with your API return, is that it's a list and the dictionary from the first element, contains some fields as "false", but they are not encapsulated with "" as strings, and python only recognizes "False", with capital F.

So you should first convert the response to text, then replace the false for False, and as last point use json.loads to use the Json on your code: (where api_return is what your receive)

response = str(api_return[0])
response.replace("false", "False")
response_json = json.loads(response)

answered Nov 20, 2018 at 16:14

Luan Naufal

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2 Comments

JL Peyret Over a year ago

good catch. if thats the cause the OP should probably be careful with the replace though. Basically a regex that makes sure it’s not part of a string. but... i would have expected the python side json module to know about false/False

Luan Naufal Over a year ago

Indeed a regex solution would be safer. The Json module doesn't handle well variations such as case sensitivity @JLPeyret! @RyanAdams could tell if it fits, and in positive case I can update the code to add the regex solution

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